*Hiring Mind Share And Market Share*

**Strategic Hires Dominate The News**

***Many may see this as a time to retrench. But that won’t prepare your company for the future. Companies like Equator get that message. “From government modification and refinance programs to shadow inventory, the servicing segment is facing challenges it couldn’t have imagined five years ago,” said Chris Saitta, CEO of Equator. “There is a great opportunity for us here and we are confident that Anna and Chuck will play a big role in helping us further our growth and expansion.” As a result, here’s the scoop on the new hires at Equator and a top lender:

****First, Equator, a default servicing technology provider, added two senior executives. Anna James was appointed vice president of marketing and Chuck Harkins has been selected as director of operations. The addition of these two executives is part of the company’s plan to further serve its client base and the marketplace; grow market share among lenders, servicers and real estate agents; and further solidify its position as industry’s leading default servicing technology provider.

****Ms. James, who brings more than 15 years of marketing experience to her post, will lead the company’s marketing efforts. Prior to joining Equator, Ms. James was an independent marketing consultant, whose clients include both global retailing and consumer apparel brands. In her multiple executive positions with Windermere Services Company, a real estate franchising company supporting over 300 franchises, 5,000 real estate agents, she grew the print and online direct mail program to $1.2 million in sales per year, and helped make it the most visited independent website in the real estate industry at that time. Her career includes positions with Tamarac, Inc., Amazon.com, and Zip2 Corporation.

****New Director of Operations Chuck Harkins is responsible for managing Equator’s growth from an operational perspective and ensuring that the company’s policies, procedures, and processes are consistent with the expectations of its clients. Mr. Harkins brings 18 years of experience in the mortgage and real estate industries to his post. He was previously executive vice president and chief risk officer at Occasio Rescap, a California-based real estate investment firm that specializes in distressed residential assets in California and Arizona. At Occasio Rescap, he oversaw and implemented initiatives such as a comprehensive pricing model for valuing distressed assets, investor reporting, and policies and procedures for the acquisition, due diligence, and settlement of trades. Mr. Harkins has held several executive positions in Lending Operations and Capital Markets with Option One Mortgage Corporation in Irvine, California, where he was responsible for credit policy, valuation, product development, risk-based pricing and performance analytics.

****Second, Carrington Holding Company, LLC has brought on Bill King as its Chief Investment Officer and Head of Asset and Risk Management. In this newly-created position, Mr. King will assume responsibility for its two investment-focused business units, Carrington Capital Management, LLC, an alternative asset management firm focused on control-based investing in the US real estate, mortgage and fixed income markets, and Carrington Investment Services, LLC, a registered broker-dealer with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

****Mr. King brings 20 years of experience in securitized products, and a broad range of trading knowledge including mortgages, asset-backed securities, collateralized-debt obligations and commercial mortgage backed securities. Immediately prior to joining Carrington, Mr. King was head of Securitized Products at Citadel LLC. Prior to that, Mr. King was co-head of Global Securitized Products at JP Morgan, where he previously held other executive positions, including head of US Securitized Products, head of Mortgage Trading and head of pass-through trading.